last week I was chatting to a much younger friend, who, as I do, likes westerns. I mentioned that Audie Murphy has done some excellent ones and received a very blank look.
“Who was he?”
He died in 1971, never mind. Still not quite with the programme, I suggested John Wayne. Well. she’d heard of him vaguely,
“Isn’t he dead?”
Ah, yes. I brightened, however I have a stack of video tapes of a bunch of his movies which I re-watch regularly.
“You’d love El Dorado. I can loan you that?”
“Video tapes?”
Sigh.
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Well my dear I’m younger than you (I was born a year or three after Audie Murphy died), but I know what video tapes are :)
Author
you probably do, but the friend in this case was in her early twenties. I struggle to keep up with new IT, but I also think her generation missed a lot. IMHO video tapes were/are (I still use my VCR) much better than DVDs.
I admit I had pretty much made a pact to myself that I would never go to DVDs, however the huge draw card for me was not the clearer, crisper sound and picture, it was the myriad of special features! I adore behind the scenes stuff and the commentary – probably more than the film itself – yes I am a weird person, but that is why I moved over to DVD. Now the special features are getting less and less. I am terribly concerned they will be dropped altogether.
Author
ah, a fair reason. But I find freeze-framing, frame by frame advance, fast forward or reverse MUCH easier on a tape and prefer them for that reason. Nor am I that much interested in the average commentary or other special features. Books, now, that’s different, I can be very interested in the background of those – and often of the author.
I found the commentary and special features behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy utterly fascinating. It was such a wonderful insight into all the incredible hard work that goes into making films like that. It gave me a greater appreciation for the movies and also I love all the extra NZ scenery I got to see. Places I may never get to experience in real life. But yes it is easier to fast forward and rewind on tapes. Sadly at the same time a movie on VHS loses quality over time. I don’t need clearer, crisper sound and picture, but I do like not having to rewind the tape after each use, but then praps I’m just lazy.